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Originally Posted by J-Ro
Definitely :)
The main issue I see is accurately modeling the forces involved, and how far to take the model, i.e. do you include just the bracket in the model, or do you include other things, such as the endlink, LCA, swaybar, etc.
I would think that you would want to include the lower bolt of the endlink, since that is causing a force and a torque. Consequently, I would think that you would want to include the LCA, or at least constrain the bracket where it would connect to the LCA.
The tough part with this is that there are a lot of irregular shapes and oblique forces that need to be taken into account. My last concern is how do we actually come up with a number for the force on the bracket?
[/thinking out loud]  |
Well...first off...all VERY good points
and good thinking. I don't intend this to be a 2-hour turnaround on the answer. I will gradually keep you up to date with each step.
Intially I see just testing the bracket for a baseline of what the metal *should* endure with the position of all of the bolt holes.
Next would be to do it all over again in the assembly (i.e. the LCA and other parts to really simulate what is going on here).
I've done a good amount of FEA analysis before so I should be ok to give us a decent answer on this; however, to ease the fears that my skills might come short...I have in house 2 FEA gurus that do nothing all day long but test the forces/stress/strain etc... on sub-oceanic ROVs all day long. I'm pretty sure we can get a *good* number.
